Comments by "Tony L" (@tlangdon12) on "Subcontracting is the curse of the modern economy" video.

  1. The premature failure of a Boeing-built satellite (iS-33e) also reminds us that companies need to have reserves of goodwill. If many of your products are getting slated for quality problems, you can’t afford another bad story. When will they learn that you can save too much money.
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  2. Richard, your thoughts align with mine to a large degree. I have always said that firms need to have some spare capacity, and that managers need to take responsibility for and understand what they are delivering. Does the IT director need to know how to program a computer? No, but they need to understand the risks that are involved in software development, including the risk that if you outsource your software development to another company, you are beholden to them to decide if you can have access to their programmers when you need them, and that you are limited by your ability to specify in a contract what the service is that you need - in my experience most managers don't have the experience to specify what they need in a contract. Many need expert help to acurately specify what is needed, especially around flexibility. Once the flexibility that the business actually needs is priced into the contract, the true cost of outsourcing usually becomes clear - it's almost always cheaper to do the work in-house.
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